Handle land reforms carefully
Feb 25, 2007
A senior presidential adviser on land matters, Besweri Mulondo, has warned against the proposed scrapping of the Mailo land tenure system. The proposal is contained in a recent report compiled by experts.
A senior presidential adviser on land matters, Besweri Mulondo, has warned against the proposed scrapping of the Mailo land tenure system. The proposal is contained in a recent report compiled by experts.
Mailo land is mostly found in Buganda. It is derived from the 1900 agreement signed with the British, which gave 8958 square miles of land to the Kabaka, the royal family and several top Baganda chiefs as freehold known in Buganda as Mailo (from the word mile) while turning most Baganda into squatters on their own land.
Attempts by Idi Amin to turn all private land into leasehold failed.As early as 1986, there was dissent in government over what land policy should be adopted.
President Yoweri Museveni and a group led by Chango Macho, a Marxist, argued against the continuation of mailo system. In the President’s view, the elimination of Mailo land system will end the Baganda peasants suffering injustice at the hands of the elite.
Mailo is one of the four land tenure systems recognised by our national Constitution.
But mailo is not a traditional system of holding land in Buganda because it was only introduced in 1900.Those who advocate for it simply associate it with the Kabaka.
That is why Baganda landlords remain wary of any attempts at land tenure reforms.
Because the 1998 Land Act provides security of tenure to the squatters, Mengo loyalists have resisted it.
Uganda is only among the five countries in the world alongside Burkina Faso, Burundi, Eritrea and Niger with over 75% of the populations living in the rural areas.
Land tenure reforms if implemented correctly, can alter their income distribution, social status and lift them out of poverty.
But the land reform strategy should have procedural safeguards to ensure its transparency.
Pushing through any land reforms will require wider consultations to explain its benefits and allay fears of land grabbing.
Mailo land is mostly found in Buganda. It is derived from the 1900 agreement signed with the British, which gave 8958 square miles of land to the Kabaka, the royal family and several top Baganda chiefs as freehold known in Buganda as Mailo (from the word mile) while turning most Baganda into squatters on their own land.
Attempts by Idi Amin to turn all private land into leasehold failed.As early as 1986, there was dissent in government over what land policy should be adopted.
President Yoweri Museveni and a group led by Chango Macho, a Marxist, argued against the continuation of mailo system. In the President’s view, the elimination of Mailo land system will end the Baganda peasants suffering injustice at the hands of the elite.
Mailo is one of the four land tenure systems recognised by our national Constitution.
But mailo is not a traditional system of holding land in Buganda because it was only introduced in 1900.Those who advocate for it simply associate it with the Kabaka.
That is why Baganda landlords remain wary of any attempts at land tenure reforms.
Because the 1998 Land Act provides security of tenure to the squatters, Mengo loyalists have resisted it.
Uganda is only among the five countries in the world alongside Burkina Faso, Burundi, Eritrea and Niger with over 75% of the populations living in the rural areas.
Land tenure reforms if implemented correctly, can alter their income distribution, social status and lift them out of poverty.
But the land reform strategy should have procedural safeguards to ensure its transparency.
Pushing through any land reforms will require wider consultations to explain its benefits and allay fears of land grabbing.